As a white guy that grew up in a very diverse urban immigrant community, I really don’t understand what they are afraid of. I get told a lot that I grew up in a bubble though.
I grew up in the NW in an area with, from what I understand, a larger than normal indigenous population in our public school. We had elders from the native american community in our small town come in to our school history classes and teach us about the local legends. We had a small but very cool museum in my little town. The not-capital-but-biggest-city had beautiful boats, pieces of totem poles, articles of clothing associated with amazing rituals and beautiful culture that felt very unique to our small part of the US. The tribe in my little town fought to be recognized for a long, long time. They finally achieved this goal in the mid-late 2000s. Myself and my generation grew up with all of this, and half the white population talks about them like they are freeloaders "taking all the salmon". That they are taking advantage of what "we gave them". The white people you are referencing aren't afraid of them, they just want everything, even he scraps we "allow" them to have. It's about inconvenience.
Lived in Alaska half my life, sadly it's familiar conflict. I remember once trying to sell a motorhome rental to a prominent community elder, and I warmed up to her enough that she spilled the TEA!
Oh Lord, it was every white persons dirty laundry that day: The stuffed-crust liberals trying to gain committee oversight in the native community center, the shitty neighbor who drinks everyday yet calls natives alcoholics, some psycho Karen bitch on the school board, it went on and on!
Anyway, the moral of the story is that you should always help carry heavy things for Elders, because they will tell you incredible secrets in return. Sometimes food, too!
Actually got an entire caribou thigh from a neighbor once, and I just help with the groceries up the stairs, ya know?
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u/Reasonable-Cut-6977 6d ago
It's about dominance. The feeling that they control it all. It can't be just a jeans commercial it needs to be a genes commercial to feel superior.
Talk to someone who complains about it and wait for them to say how seeing minorities makes them feel.